Sara Beckman, senior lecturer at the Haas School, is one of four recipients of this year's Distinguished Teaching Award, UC Berkeley's highest prize for teaching.

The recipients will be honored in a ceremony on Wednesday, April 25, at 5:00 p.m. in Zellerbach Playhouse. The entire UC Berkeley community is invited to attend.

Beckman has been with the Haas School of Business since 1988 and has taught courses in three of the Haas School's four degree programs -- undergraduate, full-time MBA, and Evening MBA -- and in executive development. Beckman currently teaches Operations Management and New Product Development in the MBA program.

In 1995, Beckman and engineering Professor Alice Agogino introduced the course Managing the New Product Development Process (BA290A/ME290P) to be taught jointly to business and engineering students. This course has been the most popular course at the Haas School for at least the past two years. Beckman continues to co-teach the course with Professor Agogino; the course is cross-listed with the College of Engineering. In the last two years, it has also involved Leslie Spear from the California College of Arts and Crafts. The highlight of this course is the New Product Tradeshow, which takes place at the end of the semester and allows the students to display their prototypes to the public.

Beckman has received excellent course evaluations from the students in all of her courses. She has been a member of Club 6 for every semester she has taught at Haas. Club 6 membership requires a median student evaluation rating of at least 6 on a scale of 1 to 7.

Beckman earned her undergraduate degree in industrial engineering with distinction at Stanford University. She also earned two Master's degrees -- in industrial engineering/engineering management and in statistics -- and a doctoral degree at Stanford University. Before coming to Haas, Beckman worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and managed several technology initiatives and programs at Hewlett Packard. From 1991 to 1997, Beckman took leadership of the Management of Technology (MOT) program. In 1998, she became co-director with Marketing Chair Russell Winer of the reorganized and expanded Fisher Center for the Strategic Use of Information Technology (FCSUIT). FCSUIT's objective is to integrate the Haas School's various efforts in e-business.

Beckman is joined this year by three other recipients: Carolyn Bertozzi, assistant professor of chemistry; Seda Chavdarian, lecturer in the French Department; and Ronald Gronsky, professor of material science and engineering. The Distinguished Teaching Award is given by the Committee on Teaching, a committee of the Berkeley division of the Academic Senate. A reception in the Alumni House's Toll Room follows the ceremony.

The second annual E-Business Case Competition wrapped up last week with a final competition on Monday night. Undergraduate students from across the Berkeley campus formed teams and came up with solutions to an Internet strategy problem for Cisco Systems.

"The second annual E-Business Case Competition once again provided a venue for showcasing the incredible talents of Haas and UC Berkeley undergraduates in addressing a real-world business issue in a pressure-packed setting," says Dan Himelstein, undergraduate program director. "Not only was it a great night for everybody involved in putting together and participating in this competition to hold their heads high, it was also a lot of fun."

The members of the winning team were David Chan, industrial engineering and operations research; Christine Cho, business administration; Lisa Mou, economics; and Amyn Saleh, industrial engineering and operations research.

The team's solution addressed how Cisco Systems can use the Internet to help its channel partners focus on their core competencies and create a competitive advantage using a "triangular channel solution" that revolved around the development of a comprehensive and interactive "myCisco" web site for use by Cisco, its channel partners/resellers, and end users. The site would provide a set of integrated electronic marketplace online applications that would deliver better information and better product and service solutions in a more efficient, effective, and profitable manner.

Each member of the winning team received a $100 gift certificate from Cisco, $1000 for the team to share from the Schlinger Family Foundation, t-shirts donated by Deloitte Consulting, and a crystal commemorative plaque. The other finalist teams received $350 for the team to share from the Schlinger Family Foundation, t-shirts donated by Deloitte Consulting, and a crystal plaque to each member of the team.

Representatives from the Schlinger Family Foundation, Cisco Systems, and Deloitte Consulting came to hear the final presentations and meet the participating students.

Two teams of UC Berkeley graduate students have been working feverishly on plans to present at National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) Challenge and the Bank of America Low-Income Housing Challenge competitions this spring.

NAIOP Real Estate Development Challenge

The NAIOP Real Estate Development Challenge is a competition between graduate students at UC Berkeley and Stanford that is sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Teams of five students are given an actual site, for which they must propose the best use, design, financing, and marketing of a commercial real estate project.

UC Berkeley's 2001 NAIOP Team includes Aimee Einstein, MBA 02; Jonathan Fearn, Masters of City Planning 01; Chiendao Glasgow, Masters of Architecture 01;Maria Iniguez, MBA 01; and Sara Williams, MBA 02. UC Berkeley's team won the competition last year bringing the decade-long battle with Stanford to a tie, five wins for each university.

Proposals are judged by a nine-member jury of real estate professionals in the areas of development, finance, property management, brokerage, and local government. This year's site is on Mare Island, a former naval base in Vallejo, California. Final proposals are presented at an annual luncheon in May, with hundreds of NAIOP members in attendance. The winning team gets to keep the prized Golden Shovel (a close cousin of the Big Game Axe) for one year.

Final presentations take place Thursday, May 3, beginning at 11:30 a.m., at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Tickets are $30 for UC Berkeley faculty and students to attend the lunch and the presentation (this is a discounted price offered to faculty and students). There is no charge if you are just attending the presentation.

Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge

Sponsored by Bank of America, the BofA Low-Income Housing Challenge is a competition among several west coast graduate schools, where teams must create a low-income housing proposal. Each team must identify a viable site, gain community support, and then design, finance, and market an affordable housing project. A panel of professionals judges the projects.

This year's team consists of Paul Correa, Masters of City Planning (MCP) 01; Alexandra Galovich, MBA 02; Shinichiro Ikeda, MCP 01; Christia Mulvey, MCP 01; Bao-Tran Truong, MCP 01; and Madeleine Zayas-Mart, MCP/Masters of Architecture 02.
Final presentations will be held May 4 at 9:30 a.m. at the Federal Reserve Building in San Francisco (location to be confirmed). Limited seating is available. Please contact Alex Galovich at galovich@haas.berkeley.edu for more information.

HAAS EXPERTS ON THE CHALLENGES TO THE ECONOMY AT THE FACULTY ALUMNI COLLOQUIUM

Four distinguished Haas faculty members will speak on different aspects of the current economic outlook during the afternoon sessions of the Faculty Alumni Colloquium on May 5. The event, which is free to all Haas students, faculty, and staff, brings noted experts on the energy crisis, antitrust issues, knowledge workers, and the California real estate market to Haas on a Saturday to share the current research in their areas.

Speakers include:

Michael Katz on "Does the New Economy Need a New Antitrust?"

Ken Rosen on "The National and Bay Area Economic and Real Estate Outlook"

Severin Borenstein on "The California Electricity Crisis: Are Policymakers Learning the Right Lessons?"

The colloquium is Saturday, May 5, 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Reservations are required. If you have any questions please contact Haas School Alumni Relations or visit http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/alumni/.

Dean Tyson invites all Haas faculty, students, and staff to the annual Haas End-of-the-Year Party on Friday, May 4, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., in the Haas School Courtyard and BankAmerica Forum. Please join your colleagues and peers for complimentary beer and barbecue to celebrate the end of another successful and eventful year at Haas.

This event is also to celebrate the:

* Cheit Awards for Excellence in Teaching (Undergraduate, MBA, Evening MBA, and Ph.D.)
* Haas School Outstanding GSI Awards (Undergraduate and MBA)
* Berkeley Campus Outstanding GSI Awards
* MBA Service Awards
* Hayase Award
* The results of the undergraduate Feed the Bear and the MBA Class of 2001 Giving 101% campaigns and,
* For the first time, the presentation of the outstanding staff awards.

The members of the MBA class of 2001 are invited to a debriefing hosted by Dean Laura D'Andrea Tyson on May 2, 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., in the Wells Fargo Room.

Class members are asked to bring ideas and suggestions for change, and also be prepared to talk about what they liked about their time at Haas. The goal of the session is to seek student opinions - positive and otherwise - of their Haas School experience. This debriefing is the second in what Tyson hopes will be an annual event to help the staff and faculty at Haas continually improve the academic offerings and student services in the MBA program.

Ken Rosen, the California State Professor of Real Estate and Urban Economics and chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, was quoted in The New York Times on April 23. In "New Economy: Amid Ruins, Bargain Hunting," Rosen commented that it is a challenge for the real estate market to respond to rapid changes in the economy. Read the full text at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/23/technology/23NECO.html.

David Levine, associate professor in the Economic Analysis and Policy Group and the Organizational Behavior Group, was quoted in the San Jose Mercury News on April 22. In the article, "Economic Fog Keeping Executives Uncertain," Levine commented that before the institution of fair disclosure rules, executives would talk down earnings to surprise the market. Read the full text at http://cgi.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/visibility22.htm.

Dean Laura Tyson was quoted in BusinessWeek on April 19 on the partnership between the two school's executive education arms that Stanford and Harvard are exploring.

Severin Borenstein, the E.T. Grether Professor in Public Policy and Business Administration and the director of the University of California Energy Institute was quoted on the California energy crisis in the San Antonio Express-News on April 22; the Dayton Daily News on April 18; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on April 18; the San Jose Mercury News on April 17 (http://cgi.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/power041701.htm); and the Los Angeles Times on April 17 (http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20010417/t000032503.html).

Janet Yellen, the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business Administration, was quoted in the San Jose Mercury News on April 19 on the state of the economy. Read the full text of "Whether the Stock Market and the Economy are Really in Recovery in Hotly Debated," at http://cgi.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/economy19.htm.

SPECIAL LECTURE
"The Brave New Business Cycle: Where is the U.S. Economy Heading?" by William Dudley, managing director of Economic Research at Goldman Sachs
Tuesday, April 24, 2001
5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Cheit Hall, room C230

Come cheer on the six finalists of this year's competition as they compete for $90,000 in cash prizes, their place in UC Berkeley history, and a chance at founding the NEXT BIG THING. Keynote speaker Nick Sturiale, MBA 00, will document his own journey from winning the contest in 1999, to the recent acquisition of the firm he helped found, Timbre Technologies, for $138 million. The event will conclude with a chance for your vote to be heard with a People's Choice Award ($5,000) given to the audience's favorite team.

UC BERKELEY ENTREPRENEURS FORUM
A Special Evening featuring the Lifetime Achievement Award: An Evening Honoring William R. Hambrecht
Thursday, April 26, 2001
6:30 p.m.
Haas School of Business
Arthur Andersen Auditorium
Speakers include Charles M. Geshcke and John Warnock of Adobe Systems; Larry Sonsini of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Sanford R. Robertson of Francisco Partners; and David Morgenthaler of Morgenthaler Ventures. The Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award is presented annually by the Lester Center to recognize the accomplishments of those who make the San Francisco Bay Area the great entrepreneurial economy that it is and whose success inspires future generations by the example they set. Bill Hambrecht is being honored as the developer of the local investment banking community and the innovative approach to the IPO market he has introduced at WR Hambrecht+Co.

OBIR SEMINAR Alicia Boisnier and Didier Guillot, Ph.D. Candidates at the Haas School
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Room F318, Haas School of Business
For more information, contact Charles Montague at montague@haas.berkeley.edu.

Ken Fisher is best known for his prestigious Portfolio Strategy column in Forbes, where his 17 year tenure of high profile calls makes him the sixth longest running columnist in Forbes' 83 year history. In three of the last six years, his annual S&P 500 forecasts have been the most precisely accurate nationally published forecast from any source, including brokerage firms and periodicals.
To register by web: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?binid=1&bevaID=13935 For more information call the South Bay Hotline at (408) 235-9363 or email Richard Falk at Richard.Falk@efi.com.

The Haas NewsWire is the electronic news weekly for the Haas community published every Monday by the Marketing and Communications Office at the Haas School. Send your news, feedback, and suggestions to Haasnews@haas.berkeley.edu.

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